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l’authenticité et de l’art de vivre
NO. EX. NO. CF.
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Answer found elsewhere
Mar 4, 2013 18:12
12 yrs ago
French term

te n'aime

Non-PRO French to English Art/Literary Other
Bear with me, folks. French is my very distant, seldom used third language and I am not trying to steal anyone's lunch here under false pretenses. What I am trying to do is to possibly construct a phonic anagram across the two languages (te n'aime - Ten M) for potential use in my own writing.

Anyway, it has always been my understanding that the grammatically correct opposite of Je t'aime is Je ne t'aime pas. However, there's apparently plenty of hits on "te n'aime" out there. An explanation I found on some wordnik forum is that te n'aime means "I don't LIKE you", but it doesn't sound all that credible. My question is whether "te n'aime" is in fact a legitimate construct, and how would it then be different from the standard, or maybe it's regional (quite a few of those hits seem to have some sort of a Cameroonian connection) - or is it simply some kind of nasty creole? Thanks much.
Proposed translations (English)
4 I don't love you

Discussion

Jean-Claude Gouin Mar 5, 2013:
@bebop It's not a mouthful like you say. One thing is sure: It's not meaningful. It makes no sense! Even if the asker asks that other
francophones add their grain of salt, the fact will remain the same.
Rachel Salter Mar 5, 2013:
te n'aime I think it is the shortest possible way to say "je ne t'aime pas" (which is quite a mouthful) and still be meaningful. The 'je' is left out because in written French you can tell its either 'je' or 'il' from the verb ending. At the same time it kind of rhymes with 'je t'aime' but actually means the opposite. To me its a poetic colloquialism.
Michael Kapitonoff (asker) Mar 5, 2013:
Could any other French natives deign on this please? There's no doubt in my mind that te n'aime is not entirely kosher. The real issue is whether there's a certain nuance conveyed when you put it like this - which would make it legitimate under some circumstances and explain the abundance of hits - or is it just bad French, period, and should thus be condemned by anyone worth his pernod?
Jean-Claude Gouin Mar 4, 2013:
@philgoddard 'Je te n'aime pas.' is just isn't said in French.
It's as saying 'I like him anymore don't.' in English ... It hurts your ears ...
philgoddard Mar 4, 2013:
I didn't say "je ne t'aime pas" is wrong. I asked whether "je te n'aime pas" is wrong.
Jean-Claude Gouin Mar 4, 2013:
@phillgoddard 'Je ne t'aime pas.' is a perfectly good sentence. Why would it be wrong? 'Je ne t'aime pas.' = 'I don't like/love you.'
philgoddard Mar 4, 2013:
But "je te n'aime pas" gets plenty of Google hits. Is it wrong?
Jean-Claude Gouin Mar 4, 2013:
te n'aime 'te n'aime' is incommplete. It should be 'Je ne t'aime pas' for 'I don't love/like you' OR 'Je ne t'aime plus' for 'I don't love/like you
any more'. This is not regional but universal in the francophonie ...

Proposed translations

1 hr

I don't love you

"te n'aime" is the shortest possible way of saying "je ne t'aime pas" , a bit like saying in English 'don't love you'. The subject is missed out but implied. Therefore I would say this is familiar prose or even a song lyric.
Example sentence:

don't love you

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